I have a roll of very thin negatives which I haven't been able to print satisfactorily on Ilford VC fiberbase or grade 4 fiberbase. I bought a package of Arista RC Grade 5 and am getting something I can use but I haven't seen a Arista RC Grade 5 in larger than 8 x 10 and no grade 5 in fiber base. Does anyone have any suggestions for very high contrast fiberbase paper.

-- Russell Ellison (russellellison@hotmail.com), March 27, 2000

Answers

Hi Russell,

I do not think that you might get satisfying results with multigrade papers. A possibility I see is to intensify your negs. As far as I know Tetenal offers a product which is called contrastcorrector. I do not know how it works but as I said it is another possibility maybe worth to try.

Regards Wolfgang

-- Wolfgang Holz (wholz@gmx.de), March 28, 2000.

Try some chromium intensifier on your negatives. Photographers Formulary still sells it.

-- (edbuffaloe@unblinkingeye.com), March 28, 2000.

If you use Selenium toner 1:4 for 3-4 minutes @ 70-F it should give you the density you need to print better. Pat

-- pat j. krentz (krentz@cci-29palms.com), March 28, 2000.

I tried to send this direct to you, but it failed. Put the neg/negs into the selenium toner, if the negs are 35/120 just pour the selenium into your tank and cover the negs for 4 minutes @ 70-F, using constant slow agitation, if 4x5 pour 16 oz. in a tray and insert the neg and flip over every 15 seconds. Regards, Pat

-- pat j. krentz (krentz@cci-29palms.com), March 28, 2000.

I haven't tried selenium toner on negatives yet, but I wonder if it's a good idea. From what I know from prints, selenium primarily enhances the dense areas in the print. So in the case of a negative I would expect it to enhance contrast a bit by boosting highlights rather than enhancing shadow separation.

-- Thomas Wollstein (thomas_wollstein@web.de), March 29, 2000.

All negative intensifiers affect the high values more than other areas, simply because they have more silver in them to be replaced, but in my experience the chromium intensifier is more proportional in its action than selenium.

-- (edbuffaloe@unblinkingeye.com), March 29, 2000.

If I may gently point out that contrast is a function of exposure, density is a function of developement, so that when you add density to a negative it helps contrast in the print, not the negative. Regards, Pat

-- pat j. krentz (krentz@cci-29palms.com), March 29, 2000.

Russell, just because the negatives are "thin" doesn't necessarily mean that the contrast is low, just that there are decreased details in the shadow areas. It is a natural reflex to reach for the higher contrast paper, when you may actually need #1 or #2, or even #0. With very thin negatives your exposures must be very, very short to allow for FULL development time of the paper. At least try this before resorting to more extreme measures.

-- Bill Mitchell (bmitch@home.com), March 29, 2000.

Pat - just checking- but are you sure you did not reverse the contrast/ density suggestion in your last post ? Exposure controls density, development controls contrast has always been the "rule" for both film and paper.

-- jim megargee (mvjim@interport.net), March 30, 2000.

If you hold a thin negative against a black background, emulsion side up, and shine a light down on it at a certain angle a positive image will appear. I've read somewhere it is possible to take a photo of this positive image, kind of like slide duping.

-- Tim Brown (brownt@ase.com), March 31, 2000.

Tim

Now that you mention it, I remember having read about the method, too. And I even remember that the description said that the method works surprisingly well on even very thin negatives. The instructions ran like this: Cut a window the size of the negative out of black board. Put the negative underneath, and ensure there is a black background behind the negative as seen by the camera. Illuminate the negative using two lights under the black board, the light just grazing the surface of the negative (i.e. the angle between the film and the incident light is a few degrees only). Dupe the negative.

I haven't tried this yet, but knowing that grazing light can create amazing contrasts, there might be some contrast intensification, though I wonder if there is a loss in sharpness exceeding that of a normal dupe. Anyway: Apart from a little time you spend on this, you won't lose or damage anything by trying.

-- Thomas Wollstein (thomas_wollstein@web.de), April 04, 2000.

Pat, I put a strip of thin, T-Max 100 negatives in a 1:4 selenium toner solution at 70 degrees for 5 minutes and can see absolutely NO difference from the rest of the roll. Any ideas/suggestions?

Thanks - chris

-- Christian Harkness (chris.harkness@eudoramail.com), April 04, 2000.